Sellers who set up shops on Etsy to sell vintage goods took umbrage when the marketplace excluded vintage goods from its Mother's Day promotion. Some who expressed their displeasure on the Etsy discussion boards say the company suspended them.

Etsy confirmed the exclusion of vintage was intentional in this forum thread: "Depending on the themes, we may or may not display Vintage as an option. As you probably already know, we provide a Browse section fully dedicated to Vintage Items only," an Etsy moderator wrote.

On Friday, eCommerce Bytes blogged about the controversy. Since then, sellers have reported that Etsy suspended them from posting on the Etsy boards.

One seller who received a suspension told EcommerceBytes the email she received from Etsy was intimidating. "The result is that I can be permanently "muted" in the Forums which means I can never post in the Forums again. Ever."